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Former MAFS expert felt “ethically, professionally, morally compromised.”

Dr. Trisha Stratford has spoken further on why she left Nine reality series.

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Former Married At First Sight expert Dr. Trisha Stratford has recently spoken out further about the Nine reality series, and shed further light on why she departed after 7 seasons.

In a statement at the time, Dr Stratford said, “After seven seasons of Married At First Sight I have decided to step back from the television series to focus on my writing, research and neuropsychotherapy.

“I’ve been involved right from the beginning in the challenge of bringing this social experiment to television. The program provides a platform for an ongoing conversation on relationships and I wish the program continued success and hope future participants find everlasting love,” she added.

Back then a Nine statement said, “We want to thank Trisha for the extraordinary contribution she has made to the success of Married At First Sight. She showed great courage joining this very unconventional social experiment in its first short series and helped transform it into the hugely successful franchise it is today. We wish her all the best as she re-directs her energies back into her professional career.”

In a later interview with with Woman’s Day NZ, the New Zealand-based therapist revealed, “It got super-sized, a bit like MasterChef, into what we know as MAFS now. The participants we got in season six and seven were so outrageous and outside the norm that it wasn’t what I signed up for. At a couple of dinner parties I felt sick. I felt in my guts that this wasn’t what I’d want to be watching at home on TV.”

More recently she told ABC she began feeling “ethically, professionally, morally compromised.” When she tried to voice her concerns to Endemol Shine and Nine that a participant was struggling, she was asked to attend a meeting with “top-level people” and lawyers.

“I felt they were attempting to bully me,” she says. “After that meeting, I was completely out of the loop. I did not know anything that was going on. They didn’t want to include me.”

After she departed the show, she was replaced with sexologist Alessandra Rampolla.

This week Nine declined to comment.

You can read more here.

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6 Responses

  3. 100% agree

    Too little, too late Trish.

    She didn’t look too challenged to me as she creepily grilled contestants about their sex lives.

    Perhaps if she left after season 1 or 2 I could buy this, but it was pretty clear what this show was about by season 3, and she stayed.

    I like MAFs , but stop pretending Trish, it’s complete BS.

    1. I don’t think she would have felt ethically compromised after S1 and 2 to be fair. Those seasons were much smaller and almost more like an observational documentary. There were four couples and they only got together one time for a dinner party. The rest of the time they actually had to work at integrating their lives – they moved into their real homes, kept going to their actual jobs. It didn’t feel so icky and the participants seemed more genuine. I think by S5 she should have pulled out, that’s prob when it had started to become unrecognisable. Now they justify a weekly dinner party so the participants feel more ‘supported’ but it’s such bs – just an excuse to ply them all with alcohol and get them to bully each other. Exposes some very ugly gender dynamics. I guess it’s good that the ‘experts’ have finally started to call out some of the behaviour but it’s too little too late.

  4. Sorry I don’t buy this, is she trying to rewrite history and save her reputation again? She was “ethically, professionally, morally compromised” after season 6 and 7? She got her pay checks for seasons 3,4 and 5 too (can’t really remember 1 and 2) and all of those dinner parties/reunions should have been ringing alarm bells in her well paid moral compass. She must still be copping it for being on the show or else why come out with another statement playing the victim and omitting responsibility for her choices.

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